At Sea

            Jesse awoke about 7:00 AM, after setting the clock back one hour the previous night.  Sally slept until about 8:30 AM; she really needed that long sleep, and felt much better today.  After breakfast and testing the temperature in all of the pools, we went for a swim in the warmest one and then soaked in one of the hot tubs.  By noon the air temperature was 75 degrees, and lots of people were lounging in the sun – and several were in the pools.  Now sailing in the East China Sea en route to Shanghai, the sea (70 degrees) was “moderate” today, not rough, though the water in the pool sloshed from one end to the other.  Sally would think she was almost at the other end of the pool, when the “current” would suddenly turn and it would take two additional strokes for her to reach the end!  With all of this, we managed to miss the 11:00 dance lesson, but weren’t sure what they were teaching this time.

            After swimming and lunch, Sally took a nap.  Jesse still hasn’t managed to catch her cold, even though he has continued to devour what’s left of her dessert every night at dinner.  (Is it possible that sugar kills cold germs?)  While she napped, Jesse started watching “The Hobbit” on the movie channel, although that was one of the few movies that we saw in the theater at home.  At least the closed captioning was available for this movie for a change.  Since this was Saturday, there was not much news concerning the shutdown; MSNBC was showing their weekend “prison” episodes, Fox News was still blaming President Obama for all of our woes, and BBC didn’t show much interest in our shutdown. 

            After dinner, we danced to a few songs in the Club fusion:  first to pre-recorded music and then to the Superfly band.   Since tomorrow will be an all-day excursion and we will meet early, we were back in the cabin by 8:45 PM.

Nagasaki, Japan

            On 11 Oct 2013, we didn’t need to meet for our excursion until 12:40 PM; however, our morning was not as leisurely as it was yesterday.  Japan required us to go ashore and process though their immigration procedures before 10:00 AM, or else we would not be allowed to go ashore.  Since we had done this previously in Muroran, Japan, we thought we might be exempt from the process this time, but we were not.  So after breakfast, we went ashore and processed through Japanese immigration (including fingerprinting).  Although up to now since 21 September, we have seen no rain when we’ve been off the ship, during this short walk from the base of the ship to the immigration building, it was gushing rain, like being under a waterfall.  Princess employees were busy handing umbrellas to people and then collecting them again.  By 9:30 AM we were back in our cabin, where Jesse resumed watching the Government shutdown saga on television, and Sally resumed her napping.

At 1:00 PM when we boarded our tour bus for Nagasaki, the weather had changed from wet to hot and very humid.  Because our tour guide’s name would have been so difficult for us to pronounce, she suggested that we call her “Soda” (which was part of her name).  She is 68 years old, was born in and grew up in Nagasaki.  Since Soda was 5 years old when the bomb fell, she knew many stories about people who lived in Nagasaki at that time.  Retired after 40 years of teaching middle grade students, she has been a tour guide for about one year.

Atomic Bomb Museum

Our first stop was the Atomic Bomb Museum, which includes photographs taken immediately after the atomic blast in World War II, video displays, and artifacts that survived the explosion.  A monument near the museum marks Ground Zero, the center of the blast; and a black square stone column marks the exact point where the bomb exploded.
 

Statue of Peace

Our next stop was the Peace Memorial Park.  When the atomic bomb was dropped on the city, an estimated 75,000 people perished.  The park was created to represent the vow that such a tragedy would not happen again and offers hope for world peace.  A Nagasaki native created the 30-foot “Statue of Peace” that is the focal point of the park, but numerous other countries have donated monuments for the park.  From the USA is a monument from Nagasaki’s sister city, St. Paul, MN.  (St. Paul was also Japan’s first sister city.)

Next, our drive continued past the Urakami Catholic Church.  The original structure was built in 1879 after a long ban on Christianity was lifted; however, it was near Ground Zero and was destroyed.  In fact, at the time of the bombing, the priest was with parish members, and all were incinerated in the blast with only a couple of rosaries remaining intact.  In 1959, a new building was built on the original site of the church and, remodeled in 1980, it stands as a symbol of persecution.  We also drove past the ancient, stone Toril Gate, which stands on only one pillar since the other was blown away by the atomic blast.  The gate has been preserved in its post-explosion state as a reminder of the destructive force of the bomb.

About an hour after our return to the ship, Japanese Taiko drummers performed on the pier for our ship’s passengers, followed by a high school brass band and a girls’ group dancing with pom-poms until the ship pushed off – about 45 minutes total.  Although we had seen the banner on the pier “Welcome Back Diamond Princess,” we didn’t fully understand its meaning until we were informed that the ship was actually built in Nagasaki.  After dinner, there were three locations scheduled for dancing; however, the dance floor was much too crowded in the Explorer’s Lounge, the Club Fusion was completely empty except for the bartender (the DJ wasn’t even there), and the Electrix Duo was “performing” in the Wheelhouse Bar (not really playing dance music).  So, we danced to one song in the Wheelhouse Bar and returned to our cabin for the night. 

            By the way, you might have noticed that we are posting this entry a day late.  Japanese broadcast regulations forbid the use of C-band frequencies inside Japanese territorial waters; therefore, the ship was required to switch off its internet services for 23 hours while we were in Japanese waters.  We had the same situation when we visited Muroran, Japan, two weeks ago.

Busan, South Korea (2nd Visit)

            On 10 Oct 2013, we didn’t need to meet for our excursion until 12:30 PM, so our morning was leisurely.  When Jesse looked out our balcony window and remarked that the view looked very familiar, Sally reminded him that we were in this port previously, on 3 Oct 2013.  Busan is the only port that is visited twice on this two-part cruise.

Since Sally still didn’t feel well, Jesse brought breakfast back from the Horizon Court.  Our room steward, Joey, and the waiters in the dining area all reminded Jesse that room service is available for no charge (except for gratuity); however, the menu is limited and does not include the oatmeal and fresh fruit (pineapple, cantalope, and watermelon) that we enjoy every morning.  After breakfast, Sally napped, while Jesse watched the Government shutdown saga on the television.



At Temple Bell

Sally Ringing Temple Bell

After a light lunch, we met with others at the Wheelhouse Bar for our 1:00 PM tour.  Unlike our guide on our previous visit to Busan, this tour guide, Lei, had very good English enunciation; therefore, we had no trouble understanding her.  As the bus driver took us through the city streets, Lei pointed out the sites.  Soon we stopped at the Samgwangsa Temple, one of several Buddhist temples.  After climbing up a lot of steps (with no hand rails), we removed our shoes and went inside the Temple for the Tea Ceremony.  While six women and a male monk participated in the ceremony, Lei told us the significance of their actions.  This ceremony is performed slowly, while listening to the water boil, appreciating the aroma of the tea, and relaxing.  The point is to make a wish during the ceremony.  Apparently, there are also female monks, who also shave their heads, and all (Korean) monks are celibate.  After the ceremony, we were all served tea and rice cakes.  (The rice cakes had filling in them, possibly ground nuts, and were very good.)  Then we all went outside, where we took turns ringing the temple bell.  It normally is rung twice each day, once in the morning and again in the evening, but today it rang a lot!

Jesse Ringing Temple Bell

After leaving the temple, we continued our tour of the city.  Our guide had intended to make a brief stop at the Yongdusan Park, but it was closed to the public due to a special event.  We returned to our cabin about 4:15 PM.

Before dinner, we went out on deck and watched Korean drummers perform on the pier.  Then, for several minutes during dinner, we watched the fireworks from the dining room window as the ship sailed away towards Nagasaki, Japan.  After dinner, we danced to a few songs in the Club Fusion before retiring to our cabin about 8:30 PM.

At Sea

            Today, Tuesday, 8 October, was Cruise Day #1 for the Beijing to Singapore cruise, though we had remained onboard from the “repositioning cruise” from Whittier, Alaska to Beijing.  In fact, yesterday morning we were given new “cruise cards” (cabin keys/charge cards), and were told to exit the ship at Beijing by using our old cruise card, and to enter the ship after our excursion by using our new card.  (We were also issued our bill for the previous cruise, as well as given additional free Internet minutes.  Our bill showed a charge for a rum drink that we didn’t buy, and Jesse wasn’t happy when he said as much to the woman at the desk.  (He didn’t like the fact that she didn’t appear to believe him.)  Also, we intended to buy a ship photo of us with the Austria couple, Francisco and Marlies, but it had already been shredded.  At least, it seems that we can still obtain a copy.

At the Horizon Court, we joined a couple at the breakfast table.  Although they smiled and looked friendly, they were Russian and couldn’t speak English.  When Jesse tried to tell them that we had been to St. Petersburg and Vladivostok, apparently they have different pronunciations or names for those cities; it was obvious that they had no idea what we were talking about.  A few minutes after they had vacated their seats at the table, another couple sat down.  Although they couldn’t speak English either, a server who spoke Spanish came to get their drink orders; and she translated for us that this couple was from Argentina, about 600 km from Buenos Aires.

We noticed a big change in the ship’s clientele since Beijing.  We expected mostly Asians to board the ship in Beijing; instead, it appears that we picked up passengers from all over the world.  Also, the previous passengers were almost all retired, while the new passengers appear to be a bit younger on average, probably still working and on their annual vacations.  On the first cruise, there were only two young children.  Now there were a more children.

 After breakfast, Jesse went to a Waltz dance lesson, while Sally worked on the blog.  Since the lesson was very basic, Jesse didn’t learn any new dance steps.  Afterwards, we went to lunch.

In the early afternoon, we decided to go for a swim.  On our way to the pool, Jesse remembered that we were scheduled to attend a Cruise Critics “Meet & Greet.”  We felt a little out of place in our swimsuits (though we wore cover-ups).   Sally soon sat down to talk with a small group who had heard about the very rough seas at the beginning our repositioning cruise and were asking a lot of questions about it.  Meanwhile, Jesse, being his usual sociable self, walked around the room introducing himself to the various attendees, until Sally joined him to meet more people.

At dinner, we met three new tablemates (all travelling alone) and all over 70 years old:  Tom from near London, England; Jeri from Seattle, Washington; and Ursula from Switzerland.  They had met the previous evening when our bus had arrived back from Beijing very late.  We had an interesting conversation about world politics.  We’re surprised (and somewhat disappointed) that only 5 of us sit at the table, leaving 3 empty seats.  However, many people have come to like the “Anytime Dining,” which is later, with no assigned seating.

After dinner, we danced for about an hour before returning to our cabin.  Most of the dancers with whom we had shared dance floors for the past two weeks apparently disembarked at Beijing.

We woke up Wednesday, 9 Oct 2013 to another at-sea day, which was a good thing because Sally managed to pick up a cold (in spite of using a lot of hand sanitizer) that started on Tuesday, and she felt worse today than she had yesterday.  Her resistance is always low anyway, and it didn’t help that we had three days of getting up early for excursions, with the third excursion day being extremely long (a total of about 13 hours, after being prolonged by sitting in fog for 2 hours).   Therefore, Sally relaxed in bed longer than usual this morning before we went to breakfast, and Jesse went alone to dance lesson.

Sally didn’t feel well enough to go to lunch, so Jesse brought back soup, sushi, cherry cobbler, and ice cream from the Horizon Court; then he did a load of laundry.   There was a good movie on the television that Jesse watched three times in segments, “Here Comes the Boom,” with Kevin James, Salma Hayek, and Henry Winkler.  With all of the activities, it’s difficult to watch an entire movie in one sitting.  There appears to be a lot of Spanish and Portuguese speakers onboard this time.  Jesse assisted a couple of Spanish-speaking passengers as they were attempting to interpret the signs in the laundry room by telling them that they needed “ocho” US quarters for their laundry.  However, he has responded to Spanish conversations at least three other times with, “Yo hablo español muy, muy poquito.”

Dinner tonight was our first formal affair for this segment of our cruise.  Since Sally wasn’t feeling very well, we skipped the free “Princess Welcome” drinks and dancing, and retired to our cabin after dinner.

Beijing, China

           On 7 Oct 2013, we awoke at 5:00 AM, a few minutes before our alarm clock went off.  Although it was still dark outside, the Diamond Princess was already in port at Tianjin, China.  After a quick breakfast, we walked down to the Princess Theater, just in time for our 6:00 AM meeting time.  By 6:30 AM, we were on our tour bus, starting on the [normally] 2.5 hour drive to Beijing.  As the bus driver maneuvered through Tianjin streets, our guide told us that Tianjin is a big manufacturing city, well located for shipping to other parts of Asia; cell phones, microwaves, and many other items are made here.  We saw many stacks of large shipping containers, awaiting shipping.  Soon, we passed through miles of reclaimed land that had been under sea water.  Land improvement has been continuing for 6 years; trees have been planted and apartment buildings built – but no one is living in those buildings yet.

            As our bus drove on toward Beijing, about 45 minutes from our ship our journey stopped abruptly when police closed the highway (a toll road) due to dangerously thick fog.  For the next two hours, our bus sat on the highway, along with lots of other vehicles, waiting for the fog to clear.  When asked about the frequency of road closing due to fog, Tao replied that it happens only a couple of times each year; usually the wind blows the fog away, but today there was no wind.  Still, we were lucky because Tao told us that we could get out and walk around the stopped vehicles in other lanes to the side of the road where there were public restrooms – though she warned us that they were dirty.  Indeed, they (especially the ladies’ room) were filthy!  (On the other hand, we found out later that some other tour busses had not stopped in such a convenient location, and the passengers had to “do their business” in the bushes along the road!)  Also, being able to stand outside the bus allowed us to avoid continuous sitting during that long period of time.

During the trip to Beijing, Tao told us more about China.  She has been a tour guide for 15 years and is much more knowledgeable than our previous Chinese guides.  Concerning the Chinese policy regarding family size, children normally receive free medical care and university education; however, if a couple does not limit family size according to policy, ALL of their children forfeit this benefit.  Hence, most couples follow the policy; of course, if you are wealthy and willing to pay the cost, you can have as many children as you like.  Everything is more expensive than it used to be.  Purchasing an apartment is out of reach of most younger Chinese couples and they have to rent (or live with parents).  Two-bedroom, 900 square foot apartments in Beijing sell for about 4 million Yuan (about $600,000 US).  You don’t really “own” the property; the government owns it, and you are actually purchasing a 70-year lease.  Tao didn’t know what would happen to her apartment after 70 years.  She hopes to live a long life!

Regarding food, the Beijing area isn’t wet enough to grow rice; Tao grew up there, eating noodles and potatoes, not rice.  We passed by farm land where two crops per year (winter wheat and corn) are grown, as well as large fish ponds.

Tao said their first leader, Mao, was mostly a military leader; but the one who followed him made many economic improvements.  On the other hand, two things have become worse since her childhood:  (1) There is a widening gap between the rich and the poor, and (2) there is more crime.  (Sound familiar?)  Another note regarding children: City people do not prefer having a son over having a daughter; in fact, many prefer a daughter because the daughter “doesn’t forget her parents.”

Not far from Beijing, we passed several nuclear reactors.  As we drew closer to the city, Tao explained that “bei” means “north” and “jing” means “capital.” Beijing is the political center of China.  The city has expanded a lot in the last 30 years; in fact, Beijing’s population had grown by 2 million to about 22 million, since she last checked not long ago, and now has 5 million cars!  Tao said that driving on Beijing streets is restricted by license number for one’s car; the last number determines which days one can or cannot drive on city streets.  That policy started in 2008 when the Olympics came to Beijing.  However, as a result, many people have bought a second car (in order to have a different license plate), which contributes to even more traffic and parking problems.  Because the city is on the edge of a desert, the government has encouraged the planting of trees and other vegetation to stop the blowing sand; the streets are lined with trees and flowers, making an attractive city.

Since our lunch reservations were for 12:00 PM, our schedule changed and Tao was instructed to take us directly to lunch in Beijing before our tour there.  We had another great Chinese-style meal, although not as quite as good as the one yesterday in Dalian.  After lunch, Tao announced that the ship’s captain was delaying the ship’s departure time from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM to allow us to complete our entire tour.

Forbidden City

            After lunch, we made the 20-minute remaining drive to the Forbidden City, which is surprisingly right in the middle of downtown Beijing.  When walking through the magnificent Meridian Gate, it is impossible not to be amazed at the splendor of the wooden architecture, colors, and gold.  For the next 2.5 hours, we walked, following Tao through the 250 acre complex of palaces, pavilions, gardens, and ceremonial courtyards.  Since all of the buildings looked very similar and we didn’t want to risk getting lost and left behind, we stuck to Tao like glue.  The intricate, elaborate decorations were fascinating.  For example, Tao pointed out that the relative importance of each building can be measured by the number of statues on the roof.  [After this experience, Sally plans to watch the movie “The Last Emperor” again.]

Temple of Heaven

            Next our driver took us through the historic Tiananmen Square, the largest public square in the world, capable of accommodating one million people.  Afterward, we also drove past several other historical buildings.  The last part of our tour was a visit to the Temple of Heaven, which includes the largest grouping of temples in China, as well as the world’s biggest religious structure.  Built from 1406-1420, it was a special place of spirituality where Emperors of the Ming and Qing Dynasties prayed for a good harvest twice every year; the rest of the year, it was empty of people.  At the end of the tour, the two of us stopped briefly at a souvenir shop before running on the bus, and then hurried on to the bus, where we were the last to board!


            As Tao had predicted, the streets in Beijing and the road leading to Beijing were very crowded.  Since today was the last day of a 7-day holiday period in China, many Chinese families were also enjoying these sites, and more cars were on the road than usual.  For a while, our bus was stuck in a traffic jam due to an accident some distance in front of us.  If outsiders wanted to spend a week in Beijing, this week would be a very bad time to do that!

            By 7:30 PM, we were finally back on the ship and enjoying dinner in the Horizon Court, since it was too late to go to our assigned [6:00] dinner table.  Being very tired, we skipped both swimming and dancing, but before going to bed, we watched the push-off from the pier about 9:00 PM.  From our balcony, we could watch the ship’s quiet departure; the dock was empty, the last Chinese employees were driving off, and we could see distant fireworks going off, apparently celebrating the end of their holidays.  The original “set sail” time was supposed to be 5:00 PM, but fog and late busses had delayed the schedule by 4 hours.  Meanwhile, we thought of the busses (and Tao) returning to Beijing; she had told us that on one occasion of heavy fog, she didn’t get to her home in Beijing until 5:00 AM!

Dalian, China

           On 6 Oct 2013, we wasted no time after our clock alarm came on at 6:00 AM.  According to previous instructions, we were supposed to meet at 7:45 AM for our excursion.  However, at 6:40 when we were eating breakfast, the ship was still in open seas, with no land in sight.  We were running very late.  After we had proceeded to the meeting point, there we were told to stay where we could hear announcements but that it might be 8:45 before we would meet.  We were also told that our excursion would be shortened by skipping a museum visit, and 35 percent of the excursion cost would be refunded to us – or we could opt to cancel out of the excursion entirely.  Soon the Captain announced that unfavorable winds last night had caused our arrival to be even later than originally thought. 

So, we sat waiting for our excursion group to be called and also talking with a couple from northwestern Indiana until we hurried off in the line of people heading toward the ship exit.  However, Jesse soon told Sally that he had left his jacket at the meeting place.  Sally hurried on and boarded the assigned bus, while Jesse, handicapped by the lines of people clogging the hallways both directions, took several extra minutes to arrive.  Meanwhile, after our guide assumed everyone was on the bus, our bus started moving forward.  Sally quickly told her that one more person was coming; then the bus stopped and, almost immediately, Jesse got on.  (If Jesse hadn’t made it to the bus, Sally was planning to get off; we would have spent the day relaxing instead of taking the excursion.  But all is well that ends well!)

First, the bus took us through the city of Dalian, a very large city with wide, tree-lined avenues and attractive buildings.  Here, even the many sky-scraper apartment buildings are attractive.  We drove down the People’s Road, their big business street.  Our guide told us that motorbikes are forbidden in the downtown area.  Historically, the city was occupied by the Japanese and Russians.  Our guide’s nickname is Wei Wei; she is a university student, living with her parents.  Having been tutored by a person from New York, her English is quite good.  She said the average wage in China is about $500 per month, not really enough to live, especially since the sale price for apartments starts at $2500 per square meter.  She said she needs to marry someone who already has a house!

After a one-hour drive, we ended up in the small city of Lushun, which came to be known as Port Arthur to westerners.  This city was also attractive, with potted plants and decorations on light posts along the streets.  In Lushun, we visited the old Russian-Japanese Prison established by the Tsarist Russians and later expanded by the Japanese to have a final capacity of 2,000.  Although the prison had been a horrible place, today it is used as a memorial exhibition against war crimes.  If there had been time, we would have also visited the Port Arthur Museum, but this part of our tour was cancelled.

Afterwards, we enjoyed a traditional lunch in a Chinese restaurant, complete with Tsingtao beer (or soft drinks).  Seven of us sat around a large round table in a private room, with the food placed in the middle on a “lazy Susan.”  The food was excellent; and although we all stuffed ourselves, there was still a lot of food left over.  (Since about one-third of the people originally signed up for the excursion had cancelled because of not being able to visit the museum, there were empty seats at the tables and more food left over than there would have been otherwise.)  Just off of each of the many individual private rooms, there was also a private, western style bathroom.
  


Lunch

Outside Chinese Restaurant



           On the way back to the ship, the bus stopped for just a few minutes so that photos could be taken of the Victory Monument, which symbolizes the friendship between China and the former USSR during World War II.  At 3:30 PM, our ship pushed off.  As we were leaving the harbor, we could hear classical [western] music nearby and could see water fountains “playing” in time to the music.  Now we were on our way to Beijing.

After dinner, we danced to a few songs before the band stopped at 8:00 PM; then we returned to our cabin to prepare for tomorrow’s early excursion, which meets at 6:00 AM.

Qingdao, China

            On 5 Oct 2013, after setting our clocks back one hour the previous night, we awoke to our alarm about 6:00 AM.  Actually, we both woke up a couple of minutes before the alarm went off and wondered if there was a problem with our clock.  We had a quick breakfast with couples from Phoenix, AZ, and Queensland, Australia, not bothering to get their names because the names of all of the people we have met so far seem to be merging together.  Neither of us is very good with names, and we don’t see the same people very often except other dancers.

As our ship slowly came into the dock, we seemed almost surrounded by high-rise buildings, mostly apartments.  Close to the dock were stacks of material to be loaded on freighters.  Elsewhere in the world, these stacks consist of very large crates, which eventually loaded directly onto trains or trucks; in Qingdao, the stacks are all tightly covered with green cloth or plastic.  There’s no way of telling what is in the individual stacks.

Tsingtao Brewery

Free Beer!

“Qing” means “lush” in Chinese and “dao” means “island.”  Our tour guide, Kim, is a university student majoring in hotel management, and this was her first time as a tour guide.  Our tour started with a trip to Tsingtao Brewery and Museum.  While the city was serving as a German enclave and treaty port, the Germans founded this brewery.  Twice during the tour, we were served complimentary beer.  As we were leaving the brewery, Jesse remarked to the tour guide that, so far, this had been the best tour of the cruise!  It was very good beer but, after all, it was originally made by Germans – and who knows how to brew beer better!  About 1916 the brewery was taken over by the Japanese; and in 1945 it was “returned to the People of China.”

Our next stop was the German Governor’s Residence Museum.  Built between 1905 and 1908, this Bavarian-style castle is set on a hilltop overlooking the old city.  The inside of the castle is decorated with wood paneling and furnished with authentic “period” furniture.  Sad to say, we were not allowed to take photographs or videos inside the building.

Our tour was scheduled to include the ancient German fortifications built by the German imperial army between 1899 and 1914; however, this part of the tour was cancelled due to renovation and replaced with the tour of the Protestant church, which was originally restricted to European residents of Qingdao.  Its appearance was that of a small Lutheran Church, with little decoration except for one stained glass window; and it appears to still be used for worship.  No photographs or videos were allowed inside this structure either.  Outside the church, there were three different wedding parties being photographed, with the brides all dressed in white.  According to our tour guide, the brides later change into more traditional Chinese wedding garments after the photographs are taken.  (Why would Chinese brides want to be photographed in traditional Western attire?)

However, this church is not beautiful or large or outstanding in any respect.   After our visit there, some of us concluded that the point might have been to show outsiders that China tolerates Christians in their country.

Today, for the first time in the Far East, we encountered restrooms without western toilets, which took some Americans and Australians by surprise.  Not us.  We also saw a few people wearing face masks to protect from smog.  Though we noticed no smog when we were in the city, we could see low-lying smog in the early morning and late afternoon from the ship.  (However, Vladivostok had at least as much smog, and Los Angeles might have more at times.)

One of the passengers asked our tour guide about the Chinese policy on number of children allowed per family.  She replied that city couples are restricted to one child per couple; however, farmers are allowed to have two children per couple if the first child is a female.  But now, a new policy allows city couples to have two children instead of one, if they are both the only children of their parents.  Since both Kim and her fiancé are the only children of their parents, they will be allowed to have two children.  The result is still zero population growth.  At the end of the tour, Kim sang us a Chinese folk song.  Although she seemed to be trying hard to be a good guide, she didn’t tell us about sights we passed or volunteer information.  Jesse wondered afterward if it might have been by design to employ young guides who would know very little.  (Our guide in Japan was obviously trained to be a guide, but our other guides have not been!)

About 12:30 PM we re-boarded the ship, enjoyed a light lunch, and returned to our cabin for our afternoon rest.  Push-off was supposed at 3:30 PM, but “two selfish, thoughtless passengers” (using our Ship Captain’s words) stayed too long ashore, causing a delay.  After they finally boarded, the Captain announced that our delay would be even longer because the pilot (who always steers a ship out of a harbor) had left and now we had to wait 15 minutes longer for the next pilot.  He also said that there would be very little opportunity to make up time before our next port, but that he would do the best that he could.  Chinese officials had been very cooperative in assisting with this problem because we carried ashore only copies of our passports, not our official passports and visas (which were left on the ship).  And they obviously don’t want stray Westerners wandering around in their country!  Our ship was 1 hr. 35 min. late in leaving Quindao.  After dinner, we danced to one song before the band stopped [early]; since no other dancing was available, we returned to our room by 8:00 PM.